1/ This is a ridiculous assertion and I'm going to tweet-storm here to tell you exactly why.
2/ Acting non-scammy, that is, being ethical, is not a one-time decision. You don't act ethically once and then get a free pass for the rest of your life. That's not how it works.
3/ Being ethical is something you have to do over and over again. It's actually pretty easy to be ethical when things are easy and there really isn't much of a price to pay to act ethical.
4/ The real test of your morals/ethics comes when there is pressure, when there is a real cost to being ethical. You can get out of trouble by lying, for example. Or stealing, or scamming.
5/ Companies in general and startups in particular are a cauldron of different pressures. There are many points in a startup's life where it can make the choice to act morally or not.
6/ Just because you *start* with good intentions does not excuse you from acting ethically the rest of the time.
7/ In fact, the road to hell is paved with good intentions for that reason. You start thinking that you can do what's morally questionable because you think your initial intentions justify it. The ends definitely don't justify the means.
8/ Lots of people use post hoc justifications to excuse themselves. This is wrong. If you scam, you are a scammer.
9/ It doesn't matter what your initial intentions were. If you scam people, you should be condemned whether you do so at the beginning, the middle or the end. /fin
